As The UK Plans To Require Credit Card Verification For Porn Sites, Torrent Site Owners Grin From Ear To Ear

Posted on July 17, 2017 3:30 PM by Rob Williams

The threat of requiring legitimate age-verification for porn sites has been looming for ages, and the UK looks to become one of the spearheads in cementing it into law. In the not-so-distant future, porn-seekers in the UK will need to haul out a credit card to verify their age, even if they’re not going to purchase anything.

How could this go wrong? I am limited by database storage, so let’s make this quick.

First thing’s first: requiring someone to use their credit card for age verification means that an additional copy of their credit card number will be floating around some server, increasing the chance of it being plucked by an enterprising attacker. We will be told up and down that those numbers are safe, but proof of the opposite is not hard to find. A huge number of porn or adult-related websites have been hacked already and had their databases leaked, much to the chagrin of those who’d never admit that they were on those sites. That could be either for the fear of others, or because they simply didn’t want to leave any trail.

Flickr: kuhnmi

Picture, then, a site like Pornhub being hacked (I am sure this company’s security is better than most, based on its size, but breaches have hit the best of them). You’re not supposed to look at porn, because an S/O is starkly against it, or maybe your religion or beliefs system is. Regardless of the reasons behind your privacy, though, it simply doesn’t matter: you’ll be forced to submit your credit card number to access the same free porn from sites like Pornhub as before.

It should be made clear that this won’t be some one-and-done kind of deal. You’d need to submit your credit card number to any and all porn websites. So maybe Pornhub will keep your data secure, but what about the myriad other options out there? The more you “verify” with, the greater the chance of a security breach affecting you.

Porn websites should take after beer websites with default age verification

What this law will help promote is illegal downloading, as well as an increase stolen credit card use. Torrent sites might be illegal, but they’re not going to require a credit card number, making them automatically more alluring to those who have any desire to remain private.

It should be said that this law does have a good intention: keeping our children away from porn. It’s estimated that more kids stumble on porn by complete accident than those who seek it out on purpose, but that doesn’t mean that credit card verification (and thus a forced login requirement) needs to be implemented. Many porn sites, like the aforementioned Pornhub, don’t even ask you your age as you visit the homepage. Call me old-fashioned, but maybe there should be an actual presite page that prevents those who stumbled on it (actually) by accident to bail without having to see… well, the obvious. Search engines could also make it harder to stumble on porn by accident.

We also have to ask: what will the UK deem as porn? Would a men’s website with scantily-clad women be classified as porn, and thus be hidden behind this rather massive roadblock? As of next year, it might be worth monitoring Google searches to see how many more people are suddenly looking for fake or stolen credit card numbers.

Ultimately, the children who actually want to access porn are bound to find it in other ways (through a VPN, for example, since this law would be exclusive to UK surfers). Really: if there’s one thing on Earth that isn’t hard to find, it’s porn. A soft block like this isn’t going to help much; it’s just going to inconvenience those who wish to remain private, and of course, increase piracy, and possibly even the number of credit card numbers surfacing online.

Rob Williams

Rob founded Techgage in 2005 to be an 'Advocate of the consumer', focusing on fair reviews and keeping people apprised of news in the tech world. Catering to both enthusiasts and businesses alike; from desktop gaming to professional workstations, and all the supporting software.